Relationship Between School Professional Climate and Teachers' Satisfaction With the Evaluation Process

Description

This research study reports on the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of school professional climate and their satisfaction with their formal evaluation process.

The report is based on the responses of a nationally representative sample of teachers from the Schools and Staffing Surveys, a system of related questionnaires that provide data on the context of elementary and secondary education and the condition of education in the United States.

Researchers used logistic regression analyses to examine whether teachers’ satisfaction with their evaluation was associated with two measures of school professional climate (principal leadership and teacher influence), teacher and school characteristics, and the inclusion of student test scores in the evaluation system.

Key Findings

The more positively teachers rated their principal’s leadership, the more likely they were to report satisfaction with their evaluation process

The rating teachers received on their evaluation was also associated with their satisfaction, with those rated satisfactory or higher more likely to be satisfied

Teachers whose evaluation process included student test score outcomes were less likely to be satisfied with that process than teachers whose evaluations did not include student test scores

These findings reinforce current literature about the importance of the school principal in establishing positive school professional climate.